PS - Chapter 5
Monday, October 26th 2009
Tonks woke up early the next morning and decided to have breakfast out in Diggory Park. She took the elevator down to the main lobby and walked towards the park. It was a lot busier now than it had been all weekend. Monday brought not just weekend and night shift Aurors but also interns, lawyers, and secretaries. When she went out into the park she found a lot of people sitting in the grass or on benches eating their breakfasts too. She found a nice spot on the grass near the duck pond. She watched the ducks swim around and smiled. This room had probably become her favourite room in all the Ministry buildings. She couldn't wait for her exams to be over so she could bring Lucy here.
"Hey!"
Tonks looked up and saw Lacey walking towards her. She smiled. "Hey, had the same idea as me, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess I did. Mind if I sit?"
"No, not at all," Tonks said, patting the ground beside her. Lacey smiled and sat down before unwrapping her breakfast sandwich. "So, how was your character and aptitude test?"
"It went well, I think. A lot different than I thought it was going to go but good. How about you?"
"Good. It was interesting. I've never seen magic like that before. It felt so real."
"I know. It felt like you were actually there. When is your interview?"
"It's at ten thirty. You?"
"Mines at ten so right before yours. We'll still keep in touch even if we don't both make it onto the Aurors right?"
"Sure, I'd like that."
"Great! I'll give you my address and you can write me. We can meet up for coffee or something. And maybe I can meet your girlfriend."
"Yeah," Tonks said, though she doubted that would be a good idea considering everything Lacey had said about Lucy the other night. "So, any plans for after the interview is over?"
"I think I'm just going to go home, take a nap and then have dinner with my boyfriend. I miss him. It feels like it's been so long."
"I know. It's been a long three days. I can't wait to go home and sleep in my huge comfy bed."
Lacey laughed and nodded. "Yeah. I get it. Do you have any plans for after your nap?"
"I'm going to take my girlfriend out for dinner as well. It's been a really long time since we've gone out on a date since I had been training for this and she's been really busy with work so it will be nice to spend a nice night with her."
"That sounds really nice. I hope you two have fun."
"Thanks. I hope you have fun with your boyfriend as well."
"Thanks. Oh, hey, did you see the news today?"
"No."
Lacey dug her hand into her pocket and pulled out a folded up muggle newspaper. "The papers in our room change every day, you know. Apparently yesterday there was a huge apartment fire not too far from here. Enchantress showed up and saved a lot of people. Twelve people died but they say that it would have been like two hundred and something if it wasn't for her."
"Wow." Tonks took the article from her and read it over. "It's lucky she was there. Part of my test was going through a building that was on fire but there were only nine people inside. I can't imagine having to try and save two hundred and ten people still stuck inside."
"Yeah, I know. I didn't go into a fire on my test but that sounds really scary. I can't imagine doing it in a simulation, let alone in real life."
"It was pretty scary. But it was okay. What did you have to do in your exam?"
"I had to stop these two guys from getting away with a briefcase. It was in a really crowded area so I had to be very careful about not getting caught doing magic by any Muggles. It wasn't too hard to with this watch helping me out. Pretty cool, huh?"
"Yeah," Tonks said with a small smile. They had gotten the same mission. Lacey's hadn't ended with a fire though it seemed. She guessed the simulation changed with how the person reacted to it. "I named her Holly."
"Nice," Lacey said with a laugh. "I called mine Dotty."
"That's a nice name."
Tonks and Lacey talked for a little while longer before leaving to prepare for their interviews. Tonks was a little nervous to have to sit in front of Amelia, Moody and Scrimgeour and answer their questions. She really wanted to make a good impression. She went through nine different outfits until finally landing on a nice deep blue blazer, white blouse, and black trousers. All borrowed from Lucy's closet, of course. She kept her makeup minimal, never being very good at it anyways, and went over some common interview questions that they might ask. Tonks really hoped this went well. She was very confident with her performance in the exam and didn't want to blow the interview.
...
Lucy walked into work this morning to find that everyone was talking about yesterday's Westmount fire. She did her best to avoid as much conversation on the topic as she could as she made her way up to her office but no one was going to allow that. Jillian at the front desk was going on about how she had been walking by when Enchantress floated all the people down to the ground. Jake from Marketing was talking about how he was pretty sure that Enchantress was a girl that lived two doors down from him in his apartment complex. Craig from Accounting was very doubtful of that theory. When she was asked who she thought it was, Lucy just said she didn't know and that she had never believed in magic until she had seen the videos on the news. They all seemed to agree with this statement and it appeased them enough to buy her some time to come up with an excuse to get away.
She finally made it to the elevator and took it up to the top floor. Lucy walked down to her office and saw Maria sitting in her desk in front of it. Maria looked up and smiled when she saw her but her smile faded when she noticed that Lucy looked a little down.
"Are you alright, Lucy?"
"I'm fine, Maria," Lucy said dismissively as she walked up to the desk. "Just feeling a little under the weather. How was your weekend?"
"It was good," Maria replied, not looking very convinced by Lucy's answer to her question. "How was yours?"
"Nothing too special. Tonks was gone all weekend visiting her parents, as you know, so I was on my own for most of it. I did go out with Anne to run some last minute errands for the wedding and then on Sunday, I got out to the studio which was nice."
"Isn't your studio by the Westmount building? Did you see the fire while you were down there?"
"No, I left before the fire started. I think I was in the tube when it was going. I just missed it. I saw it on the news when I got home."
"It was such a huge fire. It was lucky that Enchantress got there in time to save all those people."
"She missed twelve though."
"Yes, she did but it wasn't really her fault. The building collapsed before she could get to them. They were saying that she waited till the absolute last second to get herself out of there. If she had stayed a second longer the building would have collapsed on her, killing her too."
"I suppose," Lucy said, looking back at Maria. "I would just assume that if you were able to do magic that was able to float all those people safely down to the ground, you would be able to stop the building from collapsing on the other twelve people too."
Maria shrugged. "I suppose but we can't be sure. We don't know how her magic works. Why are you being so hard on her anyway? I thought you of all people would be celebrating this new real life superhero. You love Wonder Woman and Peggy Carter."
Lucy shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm just not feeling too great today. Could you just reschedule all my meeting for the morning? I have a lot of work to get done and I'm just not feeling up to talking with people right now. Just make sure no one disturbs me until Anne gets here for lunch."
"All right," Maria said, frowning a little bit. "Are you sure that you're okay, Lucy? If you're feeling that bad maybe you should take the day off. Doesn't Tonks get back soon? I'm sure she would be more than happy to look after you."
"No, I'm fine," she said, walking towards her office door. "Besides, I can't miss a full day's of work right now. We have to get the Weldon project finished as soon as possible."
Maria sighed and shook her head before turning back to her computer. "You are so much like your father."
Lucy smiled a little as she walked into her office. She closed the door behind her and walked over to her desk. She sat down in her chair and spun it around to look out of the giant windows behind her desk. She looked across at the tall London high rises and sighed. Smoke from yesterday's fire covered the city, leaving a gloomy smog. The sun was nowhere to be seen. Just a cloudy grey, smokey sky. A whole building was destroyed yesterday. A whole building and twelve people and there was nothing she could do about it now so why did she feel like this still? Why couldn't she shake the feeling that it was her fault? She had moved as quickly as she could. She had stayed till the last possible minute to try and save everyone like Maria had said. She had saved one hundred and ninety eight people. Yet for some reason, she felt like she should have done more. She should have been faster. She should have been stronger. She should have saved those people.
...
Finally it was time for Tonks's interview. She followed Holly's directions down to the office where her meeting was going to be held and waiting in a chair in front of it to be called in. Soon enough the door opened and Lacey walked out. She saw Tonks and gave her a smile and a wave as she walked by. Tonks smiled and waved back. She waited for a second and then the intern from the first day, Aldo, came out and told her to come inside. Tonks stood up, took a deep breath and walked into the room behind Aldo.
The room was quiet small with windows all on one side, looking out at the London highrises. Tonks could see how cloudy and smoky it was out there. The smoke must be from the fire yesterday. She wondered if Lucy had seen the fire. She knew that Lucy had planned on going down to her studio on Sunday and that her studio was near the Westmount building. Tonks would ask her about it later.
In the center of the room was a large table. Amelia Bones, Alastor Moody and Rufus Scrimgeour were sat at one side of the table with files and papers in front of them. Quills and parchment floated behind them, ready to write down everything Tonks said. A single chair stood at the other side for Tonks to take. Aldo moved to the corner of the room, watching Tonks carefully. When she entered all three people stood up and to greet her. She said hello, shook their hands and then sat down across from them. It was a little unnerving to sit facing down three of the most successful people in the whole Wizarding World. Tonks still felt that three on one was a little unfair but she didn't think now was a good time to voice those concerns.
"Miss Tonks," Amelia began, "we are quite impressed with your performance thus far. The final part of the Auror Training Program Application Process is the Interview. This interview should take no more than half an hour and will just give us a better understanding of the person you are and your rationale for actions you may have taken in previous sections. Please answer our questions truthfully and to the best of your abilities."
Tonks nodded. "Of course."
"I will start with a basic question first," she said. "What made you decide that you would like to work in the Auror Office?"
Tonks took a deep breath. She had seen this question coming and had practiced it with both Lucy and Lacey. She could hear Lucy's voice in her head, yes but be more passionate! What does being an Auror mean to you? Everyone is going to talk about helping people and doing stuff for the greater good. You have to make your answer stick out in their minds. Be honest, be real. Tonks thought about what she had planned to say and then decided against it. She had a better idea.
"When I was three years old we were at war with the Death Eaters." She was sure others would talk about the war too but she thought that her experience was her experience and that they would appreciate her story. "My mother is the daughter of a very big Death Eater family so when she married my Muggleborn father it put a very large target on our back. When I was three our house was attacked. Attacked by people we knew. We were all so frightened. I was so frightened. The first people on the scene were Aurors. I watched them go into my house with no regard for their own safety. I watched them fight the Death Eaters with no regard to the risk it posed on them. I watched as they put my and my parent's lives above their own and I have been so grateful ever since. From then on, I watched them fight the war from the safety of Hogwarts. The Aurors protected me when I was a child and now that I am older I want to not only repay that debt but do the same for another family. Another little girl."
Amelia smiled a little and nodded. She wrote something down with her own quil as the ones behind her scribbled furiously. Moody made a low grunting noise that Tonks could not determine good or bad and Scrimgeour did nothing. He just stared at her, stone faced and a little angry looking.
They asked her a few more basic interview questions. Tonks talked about her strengths and weaknesses. She answered questions on the Ministry of Magic and the Auror Office in general. She answered a few scenario type questions as well. Then they asked her some questions about her duel with Lacey. Finally they got to the character and aptitude test from yesterday. It seemed that they finally got to the topic that Scrimgeour wanted to talk about as he finally spoke for the first time this whole interview.
"Can you remind everyone what your mission in the simulation was please, Miss Tonks?"
"To arrest too operatives with outstanding warrants and retrieve a briefcase believed to be filled with stolen goods."
"I believe the wording you were given was to retrieve this briefcase at all costs." He looked over at Amelia and Moody. "I have told you that I believe we are wasting our time. She failed her mission. She did not retrieve the briefcase."
"I think -" Amelia began but was suddenly cut off.
"I saved nine people," Tonks said. All three interviewers looked at her and Tonks's eyes widened. She looked at Amelia apologetically. "I am very sorry, Madam. Bones. I should not have spoken out of turn like that."
"That's alright," she said, though Tonks could see that she was not too pleased by her outburst. Why did Tonks have to be such an idiot? Amelia instead turned back to Scrimgeour. "I believe that there are others things that we can discern from the test even if she did fail her mission."
"Does it matter what else we can discern if she failed her test?"
"She may have failed the mission but did she fail the test?" Moody said. "The test is not solely graded on whether or not the mission was accomplished."
"Everyone else were able to complete the mission," Scrimgeour said with a frown.
"Not everyone had the same circumstances that Miss Tonks did," Amelia said. "The simulation doesn't stay the same for everyone who is in it, Rufus. Which is why we look at other aspects of her simulation." She turned back to Tonks. "You made a lot of mistakes in your simulation. Can you describe something you may have done wrong?"
Tonks sighed and nodded. "When Holly asked me where I would like to put the Invenietor I chose to put it on the perp's body. Looking back now, that was not the best option. If I had put it directly on the briefcase, I would have been able to find Pharos after he grabbed the briefcase and ran away. I should have know that if I took out Vasquez the briefcase could still be picked back up by Pharos."
Moody nodded. "That was a foolish oversight."
"But It is good to see that you caught it on your own," Amelia said. "It shows that you can learn from your mistakes."
Tonks smiled a little.
"She was very Muggle conscious during her simulation," Moody said, looking down at a paper in front of him. "She cast a Muggle repelling charm before attempting to confront the operatives."
"And that memory charm was quick thinking," Amelia said.
"She wouldn't have needed it at all if she had stuck to the mission and went after Pharos instead of running through a Muggle office building," Scrimgeour said angrily.
"If I may," Tonks said.
Amelia gave her a little nod.
"I know that I didn't complete the mission but the fire Pharos set would have killed nine people if I didn't do something. The Muggle firefighters were not going to get there in time. If I hadn't gone in when I did they wouldn't have survived."
"The mission was retrieve the briefcase at all costs," Scrimgeour said.
"I know but I chose human lives over some stolen goods," Tonks said with a frown. She looked at all three of them. "And I would do it again. I would rather save nine people than retrieve one briefcase of stolen goods. That's what I thought Aurors were supposed to do. I thought our duty was to protect the general public. That's what I chose to do. There are definitely things I would change in my simulation but I would still go back and save those nine people."
"Simulated people," he mumbled.
"They didn't feel simulated at the time. They just felt like people. Muggle or Magical, they were still people and I had the ability to save them so I did."
"All right," Moody said. "I think that's our thirty minutes. If either of you have any other questions?"
Amelia smiled a little and shook her head. "No, I'm done."
"As am I," Scrimgeour mumbled.
"Thank you, Miss Tonks," Amelia said, standing up and sticking out her hand for Tonks to shake. "We will be in touch."
Tonks stood up, gave her a smile, and shook her hand. She shook Moody and Scrimgeour's hands too, thanked them for their time and then left the room.
Scrimgeour flopped back on his chair and sighed. "What time was the Westmount fire yesterday? Is there anyway she may have been able to get out of here and go there while it was happening?"
Amelia laughed as she sat down as well, a lot more gracefully than Scrimgeour or Moody. "I don't think Nymphadora Tonks is Enchantress. Just because she values human life doesn't mean she's running around breaking the law."
"Her simulation was at the same time of the fire," Moody said. "There was no way she left the building then. Unless Miss Tonks can be in two places at once, she is not our culprit."
"Really, Rufus," Amelia said with a shake of her head. "You didn't have to be that hard on the girl."
"She was rude and incompetent, Amelia. You can't seriously be considering her," he said with a frown.
"She did have a rude moment but she caught herself and apologized," Amelia said with a shrug. "Though she may not have completed the mission, her reasoning was solid and she proved herself to be in quite control of her situation. She was not incompetent."
"Camouflage was good, Muggle consciousness was good, a few stupid mistakes but nothing that couldn't be ironed out during training," Moody muttered, flipping through his papers. He wrote something down and closed the file before motioning for Aldo. "Bring in the next one. Just two left till lunch, right?"
"Yes," Amelia said with a shake of her head. She closed her file as well and pulled out the next one. "John Dawlish is next."
...
"Asked me not to let anyone disturb her till Anne came for lunch," Maria said. "Said she's very busy. You should maybe just let her be, Raj."
Raj gave Maria a dismissive wave of her hand. "It's different for me, Maria," he said with a flashy smile. "You know that."
"I don't know, Raj. She's not in the best mood today. I think that she may be coming down with something. You should just leave her alone."
"Not going to happen. This is part of being second in command, Maria. You just get to walk into the boss's office without warning."
"I don't think that's true," she said, though she made no move to stop him. "At least let me tell -"
Raj had already opened the door. He gave Maria an apologetic smile before closing the door behind him. She rolled her eyes and shook her head though she smiled too. Maybe Raj would be able to cheer Lucy up. He was usually good at that.
"Hey, Princess," Raj said, looking over at the desk. The chair was turned around, facing the window. Lucy wasn't looking at him. "I heard what happened with the fire yesterday and Min told me you were feeling down about it."
Lucy sighed but didn't move. She wasn't sure how long she had been sitting just staring out of this window and she didn't particularly care very much. She knew it wasn't lunchtime yet as Anne still wasn't here and that's all she really cared about.
Raj walked around the desk and leaned back on the windows. He gave her a small smile. "You did good, kid. I know you didn't make it to everyone but you did your best and that's all that matters. You saved so many people."
"My best wasn't good enough, Uncle Raj," she mumbled, not looking at him. She kept staring out the window. "Twelve. Twelve people. I couldn't save twelve people."
He sighed and walked over to her chair. He kneeled down in front of her chair and put a hand on her cheek. "Lucy, I know it's hard. I know that you feel like it's your fault but it's not. It really isn't. You did everything you could. It's not your fault that time's a bitch."
Lucy felt the tears fall down her cheeks and Raj wiped them away. She reached out and took his other hand. "Uncle Raj. I - I tried... I tried so hard."
"I know, love," he said. "I know."
"C-Captain America wouldn't have let that happen or Peggy Carter. Or Dorcas."
Raj shook his head. "No. No, you don't know that. You can't control everything, Lucy. You can't be sure of all the variables. You don't think that during a war Captain America and Peggy Carter did their best and still couldn't save everyone? You don't think that Dorcas Meadowes has ever sat in thinking about the people she didn't get to save? You can try so hard, you can do everything right, and yet something unexpected could still happen. A building collapses, more Death Eaters arrive, a car blows up. You try very hard and things still happen. That's not your fault. I am a hundred percent sure that every one of the people you just named have sat and thought about all the people they didn't get to save."
She sniffed a little and he gave her a little smile.
"I know that nothing I say will make you understand. Nothing I say will bring those people back but I hope that in time you will realize that it's not your fault. I hope it gets easier to let things outside of your control go."
Lucy sighed and gave his hand a little squeeze. He smiled a little and gave her a hug. She hugged him back. When they pulled away he knew that she still didn't feel very great. He realized that there was nothing he could say to make her pain go away. This was something she would need to work through. He hoped that she would soon and get back to her happy energetic self.
...
Tonks smiled a little to herself as she came out of her interview. Amelia seemed to be on her side and Moody seemed to like her as well. Scrimgeour didn't seemed very convinced of her abilities but she hoped that Amelia and Moody could change his mind. She felt like she actually had a pretty good shot of getting into the training program.
Tonks walked back to her dorm room and quickly used magic to pack up all her things. She looked down at her watch and sighed. "Well, Holly, it seems I have to leave you behind. It was great working with you."
You did very well during your exam, Miss Tonks. I wish you luck in claiming a position in the Auror Training Program.
"Thanks," Tonks said with a smile. "Hopefully you'll be seeing me again in November."
She took off her watch and set it down on the desk before picking up her bag and walked out of her dorm room. She took the elevator down to the main floor and Flooed from one of the fireplaces there back home.
When Tonks appeared in her living room she smiled. The apartment looked just as it had the morning she had left it. Lucy being the clean freak that she was would have it no other way. Tonks walked out of the fireplace and towards her bedroom. She tossed her bag down on a chair, changed into some more comfortable clothes and climbed into bed. Comfy mattresses, soft pillows, and clean sheets were the best feelings in the world. Tonks was so happy to be home.
...
Lucy's day went by so slowly. She just wanted to go home. She just wanted to see Tonks. She just wanted to get away from the talks about the Westmount fire. However, when one desperately wished for time to speed up, it had a tendency to go by at a trudgingly slow pace. The seconds seemed to drag on for minutes and the minutes hours. The clocks seemed to mock her, there hands may as well not have been moving at all. The relativity of time amazed Lucy to no end.
Finally though, the clocks did strike five o'clock and Lucy could finally go home. She packed up her things, said goodbye to Maria and raced out of that building as fast as she could. She walked out into the cold autumn evening and started making her way back home. The smoke filled her lungs and they felt like they were tightening in her chest. She looked around but it didn't look like anyone else was having problems. Why was she having coughing fits while everyone else was fine? What was wrong with her?
She walked her thirty minute walk in only twenty. She walked into her nice, warm apartment. As soon as she was out of the smoke she felt her lungs go back to normal slowly. She walked into her bedroom where she saw Tonks lying asleep on the bed. Lucy smiled a little and put her bag down. She changed out of her business attire and into something a little more comfortable before crawling into her side of the bed. She snuggled into the blankets and close to Tonks, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend. Three days was much too long. Lucy had missed Tonks so much.
Tonks opened her eyes and looked down at Lucy sleepily. "Lucy?"
"Hey, babe," Lucy said with a smile. "Welcome home."
Tonks smiled too. "Thanks," she said, turning onto her side and wrapping her arms around Lucy. She leaned down and gave Lucy a kiss. She had been waiting a really long time to do that. "It's good to be back."
"How was your exam?"
"It went well, I think. I'll tell you all about it at dinner."
"If you're too tired, we don't have to go out. We could always go to dinner tomorrow instead. I could cook something nice for tonight."
"No, no, I want to take you out," Tonk said with a smile. "We haven't gone out in a really long time. I want to take you somewhere special."
"Okay," Lucy said with a smile, reaching up and putting a hand on Tonks's cheek. She felt a little better now that Tonks was back. She felt less cold in the warmth of her girlfriend's arms. Lucy wanted to stay here forever and forget all about the world outside. "I missed you."
"I missed you too," she said. She sighed and let go of Lucy so she could get up. Lucy made a whining noise which made Tonks smile. "Come on, let's get ready to go."
"Fine," Lucy said, getting up too.
They got ready to go, Tonks insisted on wearing dresses and doing makeup. She wanted this to be a real date since it had been so long since they had one. Lucy finished getting ready first, walked out into the living room and sat down on the couch. She was waiting for the cab to get here when she noticed the day's Daily Prophet sitting on the coffee table. Lucy picked it up and looked at the front page.
Enchantress Strikes Again
There was a photo of the people floating down the blazing building. It looked like they were moving in slow motion.
Using magic in full view of Muggles, Enchantress saved one hundred and ninety eight people from an apartment fire Sunday afternoon. Twelve people were left behind when the building collapsed, none survived.
Lucy sighed and shook her head.
The Ministry is still in search of this woman who is exposing magic on such a grand scale and is offering a one thousand galleon reward to anyone who has information that would lead to her arrest.
Lucy threw the newspaper down and pushed it away from her. She really did not need the reminding that she had let twelve people die.
Tonks walked into the living room and looked over at her with a frown. She noticed that Lucy was very reserved today. She wasn't the same happy and energetic self she usually was. "Hey, are you alright, love?"
Lucy looked up and gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just tired."
"Are you -"
Lucy's phone buzzed and she looked down at it. She stood up. "Oh, the cabbie is here. Shall we get going?"
"Yeah, let's go," she said, though she wasn't done with this conversation. She would save it for later. Instead Tonks smiled and walked over to Lucy, putting her arms around her waist. Lucy was wearing a simple red dress with lace sleeves. "You look beautiful."
"So do you. This colour really suits you," Lucy said with a smile, looking at Tonks's blue dress. She pulled away and took Tonks's hand instead, pulling her towards the door. "Now, let's not keep the cabbie waiting."
"Alright, fine, but when we get back we'll finish this."
Lucy and Tonks put on their coats and shoes before leaving their apartment and heading down to the cab. Again when they got outside, Lucy started having trouble breathing again because of the smoke. Tonks asked her if she was okay but she said she was fine.
"I think it's just all the smoke from yesterday's fire. Don't you have an inhaler that you could use?"
"That thing's like years old. It's not that bad. You don't have to worry about it."
"I don't know, Lucy, your mum says -"
"She just worries. It's fine."
Tonks gave in and just nodded. She opened the door for her and Lucy got in. Tonks got in after her and told the cab driver the restaurant name. She took Lucy's hand and noticed the cabbie eyeing them in the rearview mirror. She frowned but chose to ignore him, moving closer to her girlfriend instead.
All through the cab ride, Lucy was very quiet. She held Tonks's hand with one of hers and watched the buildings go by out of the window. Tonks was still a little worried about her, not sure what was wrong.
They got to the restaurant and were seated at a nice, secluded table. Lucy started talking a little more, she asked Tonks about her exam and Tonks told her everything.
"... and then she threw a disarming spell but I blocked it so easily and sent one in return...
"... and I finished my run in eleven minutes and twelve seconds which, I mean, isn't my fastest and it's definitely nowhere close to your fasted but it was still enough to get me seven points...
"... and then he set the building on fire and I had to decide if I wanted to go after him and get the briefcase or if I wanted to save the people in the building and I, of course, chose to save the people."
Lucy smiled a little. "That was a good choice, I think."
"I thought so too," Tonks said with a smile. "I was able to evacuate most of the people but nine people were still trapped on the top two floors so I had to run up there and save them. I used a memory charm to make sure that they didn't remember me and I broke them out by bringing a fire escape over from another building in the alleyway behind it so that no one else saw me do magic. It's kind of like what Enchantress did yesterday except that I wasn't so showy with my magic and I saved everybody!"
Lucy had a coughing fit on her wine. Tonks waited for her to calm down a little bit before smiling and saying, "You all right there?"
"Yeah, fine. Sorry," she said, putting her glass down and standing up. "I have to go to the washroom, I'll be right back."
Tonks's smile faded. "Are you sure you're okay, Lucy?" she asked, getting very concerned now. "You've been acting a little weird all day. Are you getting sick?"
"I have been feeling a little under the weather lately," Lucy said, holding onto the excuse. "But it's nothing major, I'm sure. I'll be back in a minute."
Tonks nodded, still frowning. Lucy quickly walked away towards the washroom. She went into the women's restroom and looked at herself in the mirror. God, she was a mess. She clutched the counter tightly and took a couple of deep breathes. "Don't cry. Don't cry," she whispered but tears still filled her eyes and fell down her cheeks. "Just breath. Just breath."
Lucy heard the door of the bathroom open and quickly pushed herself off the counter and wiped the tears away from her eyes. The woman looked at her for a second before walking into a stall nearby. Lucy took a few more deep breaths. She washed her hands, used some paper towel to wipe her hands and fix her makeup, and left the washroom. She sniffed a little, made herself smile and walked back towards Tonks.
"Sorry about that," she said, sitting back down. "Ah, what were we talking about?"
"Are you feeling better? Would you rather just go back home?" Tonks asked, looking at Lucy with concern.
"No, no. We're having a nice time," Lucy said, giving a very unconvincing smile. "Right so, after the fourth part of your exam, it was the interview. How did that go?"
Tonks gave her a look but decided against saying anything. She told Lucy about the interview and about how Scrimgeour seemed very weird about the fact that she failed the mission in order to save Muggles instead. Lucy listened, smiling and 'mmhmm'ing at the right times. Tonks slowly forgot about Lucy's odd behaviour and excitedly told her about the rest of her weekend. When she was done she asked Lucy about hers as well.
"Oh, nothing special really. I went with Anne to get her dress and I went down to the studio. That's about it. The wedding's coming up soon, you know. Are you excited?"
"Yeah! I can't wait to go and see all your and Anne's hard work. You two have been planning this for so long."
"I know. I'm excited for the day to finally come but I'm also a little nervous. I want everything to go perfectly for Anne and Mitch."
"I'm sure it will," she said, reaching over and taking her hand. "I'm excited to get all dressed up and dance and see Anne in her wedding dress. Take some pictures."
"Yeah, it'll be fun."
When they finished their food and dessert, they left the restaurant and took a cab back home. Lucy unlocked the door and went inside. While she was taking off her coat and shoes, Tonks came up behind her, spun her around, and pinned her against the wall.
Lucy smiled a little. "What are you do-"
Tonks cut her off by kissing her passionately on the lips. "I've missed doing that," she said, when she pulled away and rested her forehead on Lucy's.
"It's only been three days," Lucy said with a laugh, reaching up and putting her hands on Tonks's cheeks. "But I did miss you a lot too, my love. I've been going through some pretty shitty stuff lately... like at work, and I missed you."
"I'm sorry I wasn't here to help you. Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really." She leaned up and kissed Tonks back. "I'd rather do this."
Tonks smiled and pulled away. She grabbed Lucy's hand and pulled her towards the bedroom. Lucy giggled a little and let herself be dragged over to the bed. She needed this. She really needed to forget about the world for a little bit and just have some fun. Lucy let Tonks push her into bed and pulled her down with her. Tonks pushed some of Lucy's hair out of her face and kissed her again.
"I love you, Lucy Collins."
"I love you too, Nymphadora Tonks."
Author's Note:
Hey! The last day of Auror Exams! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, sorry for the wait. Please leave me a review letting me know what you think so far!